The Magic Lantern Shows that Influenced Modern Horror
Eighteenth and early nineteenth century audiences were delighted and horrified by these spectral apparitions conjured in dark rooms.
My Summer of Watching Little Women
What the author learned from his mother, a feminist academic doing a research project on film adaptations of Little Women.
Kendrick Lamar and Black Israelism
Kendrick Lamar namechecked Black Israelism on his last album. The history behind the religious doctrine dates back at least to the eighteenth century.
How Rotten Tomatoes Changed the Film Industry
In 2008, a panel of film critics gathered to talk about the future of film reviewing as a profession in the age of the internet.
What This 19th-Century Poet Knew About the Future
The Anthropocene requires a new history to explain how humans transform the planet. The work of poet John Clare is a good place to start.
The Fairytale Language of the Brothers Grimm
How the Brothers Grimm went hunting for fairytales and accidentally changed the course of historical linguistics and kickstarted a new field of scholarship in folklore.
Did Frida Kahlo Suffer From Fibromyalgia?
Studying the artist's paintings may reveal more about the her early trauma and subsequent pain than suspected.
An Artist Memorializes the Disappearing Palm Trees of Los Angeles
Palm fronds in Southern California are falling more frequently due to age, invasive species, and fungus, Artist Zoe Crosher casts these fronds in bronze.
How 1971’s Womanhouse Shaped Today’s Feminist Art
The National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibit “Women House” pays tribute to the foundational 1972 project of Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro’s “Womanhouse.”
Michelle Dean: A Sharp Look at Criticism by Women
Dean on the obstacles women face in being taken seriously as intellectuals, feminist infighting, and the importance of being an outsider.